Ask Dr. Z

Patient with a stent graft in the proximal to mid descending thoracic aorta who is 8 months out s/p. Now with enlargement of not stented area (thoracoabdominal aneurysm repair). Physician performed the repair with stenting thoracic and abdominal aorta with total of four stents starting from abdominal aorta bifurcation and last one overlaps the previous stent in thoracic aorta. Is this correct to code aneurysm repair in the thoracic aorta (36200, 33881, 75957) with proximal extension (33883, 75958) and abdominal aorta aneurysm repair (34800, 75952) separately? Does the way the physician builds the grafts in thoracic aorta (proximally or telescopic way) affect coding (e.g. in this case the main body first in distal thoracic with one extension proximally to overlap with previous stent)?